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vro0m · 1 year

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vro0m’s rewatch - 131/310

2014 Malaysian GP

Oh so it's been a dramatic weekend it seems. The weather was so bad qualifying was delayed and there's still a 70% chance of rain. Oh dear. But also that's when the Malaysian Airline flight 370 disappeared… there will be a minute of silence.

(also soooo many gifs again so grateful tumblr upped their limit because otherwise it’d have been a mess)

Unfortunately, skysports has now decided to hire fucking Bruno Senna as a consultant, which doesn't really add anything to the broadcast.

Quali report. So it was delayed for no less than 50 minutes. You can imagine the absolute downpour it was. Q1 began and immediately, Seb was called in because of an issue. He was still able to go back out and make it into Q2, during which Alonso ran into Kvyat. Alonso had to box, but he was out again only 8 minutes later and into Q3. The Williams struggled about equally on inters and wets. In Q3, wets were still required. Lewis set the first fastest lap but only 0.05 ahead of Seb. Then he made a mistake on his final lap, giving Seb an opportunity he couldn't take, as he was too late to go for a last lap. Rosberg was able to make it past the line in time and qualified in 3rd ahead of Alonso. So that's Lewis on pole again!

Lewis drove a V8 (?). He talks about it with utter excitement. He calls it aggressive, a beast, and violent. He says he missed it. He went to his first GP in 1996, that's what really got him. The vibration he felt in his heart. He says he's in a good place this year, he's happy in the team. Of course disappointed he had to retire in the first race, he wishes people could see how he felt in his heart at that time but on the surface you have to have a thick skin and turn that negativity into positivity. He says he doesn't know what to expect this week because of the heat. It's going to be hard on the tyres and hard on the drivers. He's happy to see all the work the team put in and to see the team grow. He's proud to be a part of it, he hopes he can bring them some results. He's never won in Malaysia.

In the drivers parade, he's grateful for the work the team has done to enable him to get pole but he wants to win, he wants the points. He came here for 8 years but never won there. He got pole a couple of times but he was unfortunate. And he wants to get racing and try and get miles behind himself and see what the fuel saving is all about etc.

Apparently the drivers are still massively struggling to manage the new cars.

Oh wait what?! Daniel got disqualified back in Australia?! An issue with fuel flow??? He was P2 poor boy. Apparently his car was exceeding the authorised fuel flow rate, and the FIA could see that from a live readout. The FIA told the Redbull pitwall and said that if they slowed Daniel down to be within the limits, it would be fine and they wouldn't talk about it further. For some reason, they refused?! How fucking stupid? Oh so the reason was the RBR decided that it must have been because the FIA's sensor was faulty, and they refused to fuck up Daniel's race by abiding. Daniel would have finished P5, which is still great points. RBR said their data would prove everything was legal. They also said (Ted says "Redbull's other excuse is") that "strictly speaking" the tech reg don't refer to how the FIA sensor is used. It's only explained in a TD which they claim isn't an enforceable rule. Now they're battling for Daniel to be reinstated. Horner says they will be able to show that they didn't exceed the legal fuel flow but whatever happens what matters is to find a better way to measure it anyway. The court of appeal will hear the case two weeks after this GP. So I'll update you in a future review. (I’m not sure I did update in a further review in the end so as I’m posting this let me clarify that RBR’s appeal was dismissed and the disqualification maintained. RBR was also at the time investigated for an unauthorised method of measuring the fuel flow.)

For some reason we get a second quali report.

We now see Lewis explaining his pole lap. First he joins Brundle under the downpour and makes him move to get to the side of the screen that's less exposed to the rain.

They laugh about it.

He also jokes about Brundle's make up from the last time they did this. He seems so happy and relaxed, honestly I love it, he feels so light compared to some other seasons. I hope it stays this way (I know it won't) (added note now that I’ve watched the whole season : yeah it fucking doesn’t). Lewis is now ahead of Nigel Mansell as top scoring Englishman for pole positions and tied with Jim Clark for the record.

He says it's incredible but he has some catching up to do when it comes to the wins. He critiques himself throughout his lap. He didn't think he was on pole. He wasn't giving 110% on it. It wasn't supposed to be THE lap in his quali. He was gutted when he was told he couldn't do another lap after his mistake in the next one, he thought he'd fucked it up.

Brundle asks about his instinct when it comes to choosing braking points, as you don't know how much grip you're gonna get. He says "it's crazy, yeah I mean, I don't know, I guess that's just where the talent comes in, you know, it's all instinct." And lap by lap you learn. If you lock up then you brake earlier. But you do it by the feeling. He says again he really wanna race. Nico had more chances to do long runs during testing for some reason I don't know about and he didn't finish the race in Australia. Lewis says he has about 3 or 4 race distances on him. He's really eager to finally get one done and see how much you can push in the different stints, how much fuel you need to use and not use and everything.

Formation lap

And they're racing!

Good start from Rosberg but Lewis covers him as Seb joins the fight. Daniel gets ahead of Alonso. Rosberg struggles with grip! He almost lost it. Lewis is ahead already, the pressure is on Nico who had to defend aggressively against the two Redbulls. There's contact at the back. It's Bianchi and Maldonado. At the end of the first lap, Lewis is 2 seconds ahead of Rosberg, then it's actually Daniel in front of Seb, Alonso is 5th, Hulkenberg overtook Raikkonen for 6th, Magnussen in 8th ahead of his team-mate Jenson, and Massa completes the top 10.

Alonso is under attack from Hulkenberg and Magnussen overtakes Raikkonen. There was contact though and Raikkonen has a puncture. He falls back, he's far away from the pits. Bianchi pits after his own incident. The Redbulls are racing each other. The McLarens as well, Jenson overtakes Magnussen. Perez seems to have DNFd at some point? Raikkonen is finally in. Massa overtakes Magnussen, and Seb overtakes Daniel. But Magnussen gets back at Massa! And Bottas is also close. Bono tells Lewis Nico is struggling with the rear tyres and to look after them. But he's flying ahead. 5 laps in, he's 4 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Then it's now Seb ahead of Daniel, Alonso is still 5th, it's Hulkenberg in 6th, followed by Jenson now ahead of Magnussen, Massa up in 9th and it's Bottas in 10th.

Magnussen is seriously struggling after his contact with Raikkonen though, there's a train behind him. Lewis sets the fastest lap. He's in his happy place clearly lol, I really needed to see that. I missed it. Bianchi gets a 5 second stop and go penalty for the contact with Maldonado. Massa on the radio. I think he says : "did you see what he did?! He passed me!" He's angry. Bottas is told to not attack Massa, not be aggressive to Massa, "we need to let him go through Magnussen and then we'll just follow through." Valtteri answers, completely stolid : "well tell him to go through." Love it. Maldonado is told he needs to retire.

That's 10 laps. Magnussen is called in. The pit stops are gonna start. Lewis is 5.7 seconds clear of Rosberg. Then it's still Seb, Daniel, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Jenson now ahead of Massa as Magnussen pitted (they're changing his damaged nose), Bottas obediently behind him, and it's then Kvyat in P10. And Magnussen now also gets a 5 seconds stop and go penalty. He could've served it during that stop, so that's not good. Alonso pits. Bono : "So Lewis, two tenths faster last lap, we're just waiting for the window to open." Daniel pits. They're trying to undercut Seb? Oh he comes out very VERY close to Alonso, who gets ahead but Daniel overtakes him in the next corner, Alonso defends, it's heated, a bit clumsy, flirting with the limits of the track, but Ricciardo is ahead. Seb is called in, of course. Let's see! Jenson also in… but Seb is still ahead of his team-mate! They both overtake Bottas. Rosberg is called in. Alonso attacks Bottas and gets ahead. Bono tells Lewis he's good on fuel and needs to push. "It won't be long!" he concludes, almost singsongy. Then he calls him in. We get a graphic showing us the % of fuel used, and Lewis has used less than most of the current top 10 except from Valtteri, Kobayashi and Massa, who are not threats for the podium as far as I know. Lewis pits. It's a good one. He's now P2 but still virtually in the lead, 8 seconds ahead of Rosberg. We see Toto winking to the camera and smiling.

And Lewis attacks Hulkenberg for the actual lead. And overtakes him with perfect ease. Hulkenberg then pits. Daniel's engineer tells him he suggests dropping back a little more to save the tyres, "aim for 2 seconds to Vettel." But Daniel answers that those behind him are getting closer, if I understand correctly? Then he says "if something goes on I wanna be a part of it." The engineer says understood.

Oh L. M. A. O. They ask Horner if Daniel's fuel flow sensor is working and he says "I'm afraid it's dead, so… yeah no, it's failed." Crofty says "so what do you do now?" and he says they're following the FIA's advice now. (Remember that Daniel got disqualified after the first GP and Horner was claiming that the FIA’s sensor was faulty and that they would prove their fuel flow was good etc.)

Then on lap 20, Daniel's engineer tells him about settings that are better for energy savings. Rosberg's engineer says they want to increase the gap to Seb and then they can go into fuel saving strategy. He picks up the pace. An engineer, not Bono I think, tells Lewis that they're gonna turn something down a little bit (can't understand what) and specifies a setting he has to use. He adds "that's for both cars". We see the % of fuel used again. Lewis' still lower than most of the top 10, except Massa and Bottas. Their cars seem quite efficient. Rosberg widened the gap to Seb by 1 second. His engineer wants him 1.5 seconds further though. Lewis is now lapping people left and right. Pit stops, pit stops. Alonso pitted which triggered Daniel's pit which is gonna trigger Seb's and Rosberg's surely?

On lap 30, Rosberg's engineer says there's rain in the area but it's not imminent. Bono explains the same thing to Lewis. Possible rain towards the end of the race. Seb pits. Lewis is told to try and stretch this stint as long as he can in case it rains. I'm getting nervous. Rosberg pits. Lewis is called in at the end of the lap, so he actually didn't stretch that stint much. It's not a great stop but it's okay. He's still in the lead so whatever lol. It's Hulkenberg P2 at the moment, but 8 seconds away and only because he hasn't pitted yet. Oop. Sutil is parked on the track in his Sauber. Raikkonen says it's raining a little bit on some parts of the circuit. Daniel is told to hit the beeps? But fuel is okay just hit the beeps? Oh. Crofty explains the drivers are getting beeps in their helmets to tell them when to start to lift and coast I guess

So Ted explains that it's the FIA sensor that failed and they're now running a prearranged backup, pre-made calculation that they agreed on with the FIA and that's the beeps. Complicated.

In the midst of this explanation, Bono says there's light rain on the back of the track on the radar, nothing to worry about, but Lewis should keep them updated. Oh. Seb says Rosberg looks like he's been losing either oil or water for a couple of laps. His engineer says it's raining on some parts of the circuit and maybe that's what he's seen? Which seems like. I mean. Surely Seb would be able to tell if that's what it was?

It's lap 40. Seb is closing little by little on Rosberg. Oh. Ricciardo pits. It's a bit of a struggle. They tell him to stop immediately. In the pitlane. The front left is not on properly. He's shaking his head. They sprint to him, roll him back in the box. He's losing insane amounts of time. The poor mechanic is drilling but it's still not good. They hoist him back up. Then down. He doesn't leave immediately. It's absolutely catastrophic. He's still shaking his head as he leaves the pitlane. Alonso pits. OH! And now Daniel is seen with a crooked front wing touching the ground! What happened? How did it go to shit THAT much? He asks what he should do. They say the pressure still looks okay but if he thinks there's a puncture he should come in. He says it's a big cut. There's indeed a long black line all around his tyre, right in the middle of it, caused by the front wing rubbing against it I believe. He lost a bit of his front wing now. We don't quite understand what happened. Did they damage it in the pit stop? He pits. He goes again. Mercedes says there's nothing in the telemetry suggesting Rosberg is losing any type of liquid as Seb claims. And of course, Daniel gets a 10 second stop and go penalty for unsafe release. When it rains it pours.

There's 10 laps to go. Jenson and Massa are racing beautifully over P6. Jenson wins. It's lap 50. Seb is called in. Rosberg is called in. Lewis is called in. 5 laps to go. Ricciardo retires. His body language is very defeated, unsurprisingly. Drama at Williams again. To Massa : "Okay Felipe, Valtteri is faster than you, do not hold him up." To Bottas : "you're faster than Massa, overtake him." Alonso overtakes Hulkenberg for P4, then loses it, then gets it back, then loses it again, and then gets it again. Meanwhile, Massa is not letting Bottas through. 3 laps to go. To Massa : "okay Felipe Valtteri has got better tyres we need to let him go, don't hold him up." Brundle points out Massa's are only 2 laps older. 2 laps to go. Ted says a lot of different voices over the radio talking to Massa, now arguing they have to cool the car down. All the journalists agree that Massa has been a second driver for most of his career and it's understandable he doesn't want to fold. Bono tells Lewis he's the fastest man on track, "we can back the pace up a little bit, just look after the car". "Okay man, I hear you" he answers. Massa and Bottas are really close now. It's the final lap. Valtteri attacks but can't do it. Bono : "Okay Lewis you're on your final lap, final lap, take no risks." This team is STRESSED.

But it's the end of the race!

And Lewis wins! It's a Mercedes 1-2, and Seb is third. Massa ended up ahead of Bottas, in 7th.

"Awesome race Lewis, awesome race!" says Bono with his shaky voice. "Faultless weekend! You've done the job there, pal."

"Rrreally grateful for the job guys!" Lewis answers. "Thank you so much!"

Lewis hugs the whole team, he hugs Nico, Lauda hugs the pit wall, they're all so happy. So happy!

(you could say things about their body language there though)

In the cool down room, he hugs Shov, and again Nico, and he shakes Seb's hand.

Seb asks how many laps he did on his first stint but he doesn't remember. Seb and Nico speak in German then lol. Not very nice to Lewis.

Lewis is super happy on the podium which is great to see. (Also again his hair looks better than in 2013.)

He keeps pointing at people in the crowd and giving them thumbs up during the anthems lol he's not focused.

Of course Shov gets drowned in champagne, Seb sprays the podium girls which… mh. They drink. They get blinded by the spray. They take the photo.

It's all great. They get ready to leave but they forgot there's an interview happening

For some reason it's Benedict Cumberbatch interviewing them??? Lewis is elated. He's grateful, he dedicates the win to the victims of the flight 370 and their families. Nico is juggling with his mic.

Lewis says everything was spot on from the team, all the info they gave him was perfect.

That makes it Lewis' 23rd win. He's now ahead of Damon Hill which seems to be the natural order of things to me tbh.

In the media pen, Lewis is all smiles.

He jokes around with Pinkham. He's very happy, it's been a fantastic weekend, the team is doing a great job. They're very happy about the 1-2. And it's his step mom Linda's birthday the next day so he also wants to dedicate it to her.

He wasn't too worried about the rain. First of all it happens every time they race here, you can always see a black cloud coming. He would have prayed for it to stay away another year but this time he was calm about it, he was ahead, with a good gap, he had qualified first in the wet. Natalie asks if that's the car for the whole year, can it cope in any climate. He says he hopes so.

The car was fantastic in the most difficult of climates, they have to keep on pushing. She says it's also his 100th points finish. Really? he asks.

He thinks about it for half a second. "I don't wanna hear about that kind of stuff," he says with a huge smile. "Because it means I'm getting old! I've been here for a long time!" He laughs.

Last few things : Daniel was handed a 10-place grid penalty for the unsafe release. Magnussen, Bianchi and Bottas all received 2 penalty points (Valtteri because he impeded Ricciardo in quali).

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2014 #2014 malaysian gp

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australianwomensnews · 3 months

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Yep, it’s the most depressing time of year, the day we start back at work, aka Blue Monday if we want even more US culture. So let’s spare a thought for the folks who will truly struggle when they return to the coalface for 2024: human resources staff.

Truly, I would not normally sympathise with HR in any workplace. HR types all over the place have, in the past, protected sexual harassers and bullies. They have, in the past, backed bosses who protected sexual harassers or who were sexual harassers themselves.

My all-time favourite was an HR staffer who argued that the person at her workplace bullying an entire department could not possibly be a bully “because that’s what happened in her last job, and she knows not to do it again”. It was not just in her last job, but the one before that and the one before that.

Actually nah, my all-time – all-time – favourite was a person in HR elsewhere telling me that a senior staff member with an erection pressing into the buttocks of a copy kid at the photocopier did that by accident. Honestly, don’t we all press into people when we pass the photocopier.

Anyhow, this year, the working lives of those in HR will be very different and not in a good way. What? Worse than trying to resolve work-from-home conflicts between bosses who demand presenteeism and workers who need flexibility? Much worse.

Two reasons: the regulation and enforcement of the Positive Duty – the legal obligation for employers to take “reasonable and proportionate measures” to eliminate, among other things, sexual harassment at work, sex-based harassment and sex-related acts of victimisation or risk; plus companies with more than 100 employees being forced to release gender pay gap data next month.

Coming soon, tea will be spilled in workplaces across the nation and no-one’s ready for it. Tea and tears. A nation which has done an appalling job of protecting women at work – and of paying them fairly – is about to hear what’s real and what’s not. And the woman who runs the Australian HR Institute is not all that confident companies are ready.

Let’s face it. Why would the government introduce a positive duty to make workplaces safe from sexual harassment unless companies had utterly failed themselves? Or as Sarah McCann-Bartlett, CEO of HR’s peak body says, governments only regulate after the markets fail. And the epidemic of sexual harassment at work is one helluva market failure.

Meanwhile, the folks at the Workplace Gender Equality Agency are (kinda) ready for the most controversial data it has ever published: the gender pay gap, workplace by workplace. It’s already been inundated with requests for help with “employer statements”. That’s where employers try to excuse their massive gender pay gaps. I am so looking forward to the conversations generated by these numbers. I love nothing more than making trouble. Or at least eavesdropping on trouble.

Here’s trouble at its core. As McCann-Bartlett told me, these huge changes to the Australian workplace have the same drivers: organisational cultures that don’t support sex-based safety and equity; leadership failings; and a lack of transparency and reporting.

“As a whole, organisations in Australia were not making the positive changes in these areas that they should have. And so the government legislated,” McCann-Bartlett said.

Companies are seeking advice where allegations have been substantiated. I reckon in the past companies just used to hope it (meaning the victim) would just go away. Now, she says, they are also seeking advice where there is insufficient evidence but deep concerns about reputation risks and regulator involvement.

“Media and reputation issues are now a much bigger catalyst and regulation is playing catch-up. The appetite to act increased as the enforcement date approached,” she says.

Unfortunately, paying women less for the same work is not as easy to police. There are always a thousand excuses. But at least we will soon see what’s what. I’m also looking forward to seeing so many sexual harassment perps sacked. Let’s see how that works out for them.

#gender pay gap #auspol #australia #feminism #feminist economics #radical feminist #opinion

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jiilys · 3 years

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warm front

featuring The Line, also on ao3 here

“You’re a lot better at this than Ron.” Harry said into the phone.

“Well that’s not hard,” Ginny said, not mentioning how she still occasionally picked up the receiver upside down. “Speaking of, he’s started growing a moustache since you left. It’s ghastly.”

“Oi!” Ron’s voice, annoyed, in the background. Harry grinned.

“Oh yeah?”

“It looks like he’s got biscuit crumbs on his upper lip.” Harry laughed, and Millie glared at him from behind the post office counter, “Oh, lovely, he’s giving me the finger.”

“I’ve started growing a bit of a beard actually.”

“Come off it.”

“Feeling left out?” Harry joked

Ginny snorted. “Yes, desperately. Isn’t it hot?”

“Well I think so.”

She laughed, clear and quick, and Harry could imagine her, all limb, leaning against the kitchen cupboard curling the phone wire around her wrist. He’d bought the phone as a bit of joke before he’d left, and then as a joke she’d installed it, and then for a joke he’d rung her, and then this was how they talked now. Arthur had apparently worn a suit when the electrician came to install the power plug.

“Isn’t it hot though? Bill says Australian summers are killers”

Harry looked at Teddy, sat on the post office floor in nothing but shorts sucking an ice-pop. “I’ve been sunburnt in places I never have been before, but it’s mostly fine.”

“Wow, sexy.”

“Bet Ron loved hearing you say that to me.”

“I’m sorry Harry, you want to do what to me? Put that where?”

“Gin-“

“No, we couldn’t in my room, there’s not enough room. Lounge is better, more space. On the dining table.”

Harry could hardly talk. “Stop,” he choked, “He’ll never speak to me again.”

“He left when I said the bit about the lounge, said I was being ‘very immature.’”

Andromeda, desperate to get out, away, gone, bought the land in Australia six months after the war ended. She’d said it was because she’d always liked the heat, but when Harry got there he knew why. He’d never seen anywhere so unlike England, the Australian countryside was all scorched earth, red dirt, dry trees. It could have been a different planet entirely.

He’d followed her six months later to be with Teddy, who at almost a year had hair permanently sunshine yellow, except when it rained it went as grey as concrete. Harry liked the spiders, sand, sunburn of it all. Sometimes, dumbly, he found himself missing sheets of rain, but only when it was so hot he could barely see straight.

Mostly he liked how there was nothing to do there, nowhere he had to be. He was teaching himself how to drive, burying things for Teddy to sniff out (dog nose), going into the tiny town to talk to Ginny on the post office phone, and helping Andromeda build a shed out the back. He’d never used magic less. The days were long and the nights were longer, but it was so different here that that too felt right.

He didn’t know when he’d go home. He kept meaning to set a date and then just didn’t, and then everyone stopped asking. It was stupid, but he felt like he’d know when he was done.

“Dad won’t let me see the phone bill,” Ginny said, picking up on the third ring and not saying hello, “It arrived this morning and he’s been locked in his office all morning with it.”

“Oh, God, I can-“

“Don’t you dare offer to pay for it. I don’t even think it’s that much, I think he’s just trying to recreate the logo at the top or something.”

“I-“

“Stop trying to pay for it- “

“I’m not– “ Harry, who had been, was silent. Then: “Gin, please-“

“No- “

“But- “

“Shut up-“ she said, unbothered, “Mum asked if you got the stuff she sent.”

“I did, the biscuits were excellent. And the tea bags” Harry had cleaned out the tin so Teddy could use it as a hat, which he had been wearing for two days now.

“I told her they already had tea in Australia but she didn’t believe me.”

Harry smiled, “I didn’t mind.”

“She said that even if they did have tea they wouldn’t have English Breakfast, or they would call it something crazy like ‘Australian Outback Breakfast’.”

“How thoughtful of her.”

“Stop being nice about it, it’s ridiculous.”

“It was nice of her.”

“Australian Outback Breakfast, Harry”

“I hate tea and hate that it was graciously sent to me by your mum.” Harry obliged.

“There we go. Killed any snakes yet?”

“Oh yeah, loads. Bears too.”

He could hear her smiling, “Bears, huh?”

“All in your honour.”

“Naturally. Still no success in seducing Millie?”

Harry looked around to the post office reception desk, a stones-throw away from the phone, to where Millie– middle-aged, cardiganed, glasses– was pretending to read the paper and not hate him.

“Haven’t you heard? Wedding’s in the Spring.”

“Damn. Well, we had it good there for a while but true love always wins.”

He laughed, and Millie gave him a look. He waved. She ignored him and went back to the paper.

Ron sent letters, barely legible, by owls that had to be nursed back to health in the bath.

Harry,

Sorry for the writing but I’m on the muggle train because we’re going to Ireland for a few days to stay with her Hermione’s Aunt because she’s ‘dying to meet me’ (???). Anyway, Hermione also says to tell you that Ginny is thinking of cutting a fringe, because apparently that’s important. Apparently girls do that in a crisis, or whatever, she’ll write and explain it.

Ginny is basically living at ours now. The other day she put a Hollyhead Harpies poster up in the living room and when I tried to charm it off all the players screaming at me like Sirius’s fucking mum, so I just moved the cabinet in front of it. Bloody nightmare.

Honestly it isn’t even half bad having her around, she knows all these drinking games and set up your room and sometimes has a go reading over Hermione’s policy reports to the Ministry when I’ve sworn off them. Do not tell her I don’t mind her being round she’ll be annoying about it. I’m getting that Harpies poster off the wall.

Hope Teddy is good and everyone is demanding more photos as usual. All Victorie has to do is chew the carpet around here and everyone gets a bit teary, including me. George jinxed Perce’s glasses into binonoulars the other day and for a weird second everything felt like before and Vic giggled and then George looked like he’d been hit the fucking nightbus. I don’t even know how to explain it– kids really just have no idea about any of it.

Hope Andromeda is good and that the driving is going better. Dad’s framing all of the phone bills he gets which Gin probably already mentioned but I can’t tell you how weird it is to go into my old room and it’s just a bunch of framed bills. Hermione says hello which I’ve already written but she said I didn’t make it clear enough.

We miss you mate. Home soon yeah?

Ron

Often, he thought of the week he’d told them he was leaving. Hermione, drunk, talking to Ginny on the patio of the burrow when she thought everyone was inside. It makes sense, really, she’d said, He’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted too. Ron had looked at him and then loudly dropped his firewhiskey and the girls had jumped, turned around, stopped talking, but still. He’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted too. Huh.

“How’s driving?”

“Oh, fine. I killed a swan.” Harry said, demoralised. Ginny laughed for a good two minutes.

“What?”

“I hit the wrong pedal and speed up instead of slowing down. I didn’t know what to do so I just moved it off to the side of the road.”

“Ah, the Boy who Lived strikes again.”

“Stop,” He was smiling, “What if Teddy had seen it?”

“He’s not even two. He probably would have thought it was, like, having a lie down or something.”

Harry was laughing now, “A lie down?”

“Yeah, a spontaneous, truck-induced–“

“–Permanent–“

“–Permanent, lie-down. I’m almost jealous now actually.”

Andromeda was in her garden a lot. Getting anything to grow was near impossible, but she wouldn’t stop working at it. She kept saying that soon they’d be able to have a green beans salad, so Harry just drove to a market and stuck a few green beans in the ground to make her laugh. As a sort of joke they’d started calling the land ‘the farm’ even though nothing ever grew here.

They took Teddy to the ocean for the first time and his eyes went blue the second he saw it. The beach where they’d buried Dobby was overcast, water as grey as dishwater, but here the it glittered like glass, blue light come alive. Teddy sat in the shallows, trying to flatten waves with his fists, laughing.

Andromeda sat on a towel by the dunes under an enormous hat, tears running down her face, abruptly laughing when Teddy tried to eat sand or fell over a sandcastle. Harry knew how she felt. Impossible, how two years ago Teddy had two living parents and Harry had been seventeen, dead and walking, and now they were sat on the beach, people they loved dead for real, as Harry and Teddy lined up shells on the shore.

It was three in the morning but Harry snuck in through a backdoor, cloak on, having to jimmy the lock because he forgot his wand. The streets were pitch black, only three streetlights in the whole main street, with two of them not working anyway.

“Why’re you awake?” Ginny said lightning quick, knowing the time difference by heart, and Harry’s chest unlocked. It was stupidly comforting, Ginny’s voice, how she never said hello on the phone because she never learned, how if he really made her laugh she’d hold the receiver away from her, like he wasn’t desperate to hear it.

“I thought I saw Sirius today,” he couldn’t stop himself, “There was a dog on the farm and it was huge and I thought– I forgot he was dead. Isn’t that stupid?”

There was only Ginny’s breath down the phone. Picture: her in the kitchen, gripping the receiver, still. The memory looped in his brain, how Sirius’ name had risen in his throat, how odd it felt there, how long it had been since he’d said it aloud.

“No.” He almost didn’t hear her it’s so quiet, “I went to the shop yesterday and asked Ron if Fred was in the back. I forget too.”

His heart slowed, the memory of the shop: solid and real, running again, made for laughing, rose up, only then he shut his eyes and saw everyone laid out in rows, glassy eyes, and somehow he was walking through the forest again, going to die, but not soon enough–

“Harry.” Ginny’s voice, dragging him back to earth, “You did everything you could. Sirius knew. Everyone knew. No one could have done better.” She sounded so sure, voice as clear as glass, he’d be a fool not to believe her, “It hurts because they loved us. They loved us. That’s the part to remember.”

“You are kidding-!” This time Harry didn’t say hello.

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

“Harpies reserve!” Harry was yelling in the post office and Millie looked appalled, “They’ll promote you in two weeks, you genius, I knew it– “

“I’m sorry I really have no idea who this is.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything.”

“I sent the letter!” Ginny dropped the joke, indignant.

“We spoke two days ago! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me then–”

“–I sent our fastest owl.”

“Marius is currently passed out in the sink–“

Ginny laughed, “I wanted you to get the letter,” she said, finally, “I wanted you to see it. Did you see Madeline McKinnon signed it?”

She sounded like a kid. He grinned. “I did.”

“Best beater this century sent a letter to my house, asking me to be on her team. Madness. The English team are after her you know, it’s all over the Prophet.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to send the letter back because I think that really will finish Marius off.”

“Please, you think I sent the real thing? Dad made twenty copies. He hung two on Ron and Hermione’s fridge and sent one to Aunty Muriel.”

Harry grinned, “You’re brilliant, I’m hanging my copy on the front door, framed.”

“The moving logo may cause problems for the muggles”

“Who cares? I want to tell everyone about this. Chaser for the Harpies–“

“I’m a reserve.”

“For now.” He could hear her smile through the phone, “What did everyone say?”

“Ron said I was a traitor and that he was also proud. Mum cried. Hermione promised to actually watch a game, George reminded me about nicking his broom all that time so technically he was also partly on the team, Bill bought a season pass, Charlie hung a giant Harpies poster in his shite apartment and sent a photo, Luna sent me awful flowers that won’t stop smoking, and Percy called to congratulate me on my admission to the ‘Hollygrove Harps.’”

Harry laughed, “Incredible.”

“Yeah, Perce’s was particularly heartfelt.”

Harry,

I’m sat at the dining table and everyone’s still here, but Mum wanted me to recap Charlie’s birthday dinner right now because she doesn’t want you to miss anything. Hermione also agreed with this mental idea.

Dinner Summary:

Food was good

Hermione tried to explain the electric collage or whatever decides American elections to Dad, it was stupid.

Hermione says it was electoral college not the eccentric cage or whatever I wrote

George got Charlie a life-size model of the Horntail that he almost opened in the house. Mum had a fit.

Dad told a story about how the Muggle Foreign Minister ended up with a bathtub cursed to drown anyone in it.

Ginny wants me to say Percy is wearing a cardigan Millie would be proud of. I do not know what this means. Better not be a sex thing.

Hermione says hello (again she insisted I write this down like it isn’t obvious)

Mum wants me to say we all miss you still (again, obvious)

She also wants to know if you need her to make you any shorts (do not answer this)

Charlie wants to say cheers for the gift – apparently they only do that burn cream in Australia and it’s hard to come by

George doesn’t have anything to say he just wanted to be involved so I’ve written this so he’ll bugger off.

I’m bloody sending this now, I feel like a quick quotes quill (Fleur asks how you are). Have a good one mate.

Home soon yeah?

Ron.

Sometimes, when he was driving home from the post-office just after the sunset, everything sat in the new-dark, he’d remember when he used to be on watch, sat in front of the tent holding Hermione’s wand with everything going wrong, and how only then he’d let himself think about Ginny. Her voice, long laugh, longer legs, telling him to move over, pass the milk, look left, met her later, skip that flashcard, relax, put Luna in as chaser if it all goes arse up– she’s Ravenclaw but I’ll vouch for her. Dumb hours spent on the Quidditch pitch, sun going down, watching her get shot after shot past him like she even needed the practise. C’mon Potter at least try to save these, you’re making Ron look like Wood. Her hair everywhere, laughing, head back, both of them impossibly far from the ground

I really don’t want to die, Harry would think in the dark, wand out, ready for it, I really don’t want to die and miss out on you

Harry,

Sorry I couldn’t call but everything’s been nuts here and I wasn’t sure when I’d get to talk to you. Malcotti’s fucked her ankle so I may actually get put in for a game?? She’s been told to take it easy for a week and we play the Magpies in four days, so?? I’ll let you know when I can call. I’m currently writing this at the post-office desk and running late for practise.

Sidenote: this express owl cost me four galleons so I hope it does a dance on its arrival or at least arrives within the day. Tell Andromeda hello and that I’m still rooting for the green beans. Also, good luck for the driving test!! I’m sure you won’t hit anything living or dead and/or drive into a lake, but also if you do just confund the instructor. I solemnly swear not to tell Hermione.

Thinking of you. Kiss Teddy for me,

Gin

The click of the receiver: “I only have five minutes, we’re about to eat.”

Harry smiled, “How’s home?”

“Absolutely nothing to note. Victorie threw up on Bill yesterday, so that was a joy.”

“Supportive as usual.”

“Hey, I am supportive.” Harry could tell the phone was jammed between her shoulder and her ear, heard a knife on a cutting board, “Supportive of Victorie’s right to throw up on Bill whenever she wants.”

“Are you cooking?”

“I’m cutting potatoes by hand to avoid the lounge because Fleur and Mum are talking about how to discipline children.”

“Sounds tense.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Ron had to pretend to be on the phone with you earlier for ten minutes just to get out of there. He says hi– fuck!”

Harry heard the phone fall, “Ginny?”

A scrambling on the other end, distantly: “You’re bleeding on the potatoes!”

“Hi,” Ginny’s voice, a little breathless, “I cut myself.”

“You alright?” Harry asked, quick-shot.

“Oh, yeah. Just blood. Admirably everyone is showing a lot of concern” (Percy’s voice, distant and mournfully, “well there’s no way we can eat these now”)

He thought about going home sometimes, about the flat with Ron and Hermione he was currently paying for that he’d never lived in, what he’d do back in England. No one had ever come out to visit him here, some unspoken agreement they’d all made to give him space. Except, knowing Ron and Hermione and Mrs Weasley and he’s never been anywhere he wasn’t hunted to it probably was very much spoken, it’s just he wasn’t there for it.

The thing is, if he went home that meant no more seeing Teddy every day, sitting around eating cereal, watching him walk into walls or turn his nails pink, giving him ice cream for lunch and strap him into the truck, driving around the farm doing spins just to make him laugh. Even after all this time Australia was so far from the familiar, every night him and Andromeda sat on the deck lazily casting cooling charms, looking at all the stars.

On full moons Teddy got in bed with all the curtains open, blinds up, just to look at the moon. He couldn’t sleep unless he saw it. Harry wondered if he ever did anything like that, got pulled towards something of his parents without realising it. Quidditch, probably. Looking for something without knowing, not sure what you were really missing. Teddy’s huge eyes, the moon, and that familiar feeling: Stop, wait, I can’t believe I’ll never see you again. Come back, I wasn’t done yet. I don’t know how to do it without you.

It was pitch-black, four in the morning Queensland time, but it had been the only time she’d had free. Harry was leaning against the booth wall, letting the cloak slip, exhausted. Ginny cleared her throat in an odd way.

“So, you know I hate asking about this. It makes me– I don’t want to be that person” She sounded, wrong, uncomfortable, like white knuckles gripping the receiver, “But everyone’s been asking and I want– when do you think you’ll be coming home?”

Harry was quiet. All this time away– almost a year, eleven months, it occurred to him– and she’d never asked. She was the only one who hadn’t. “Oh, I don’t know. Soon, I guess.”

“Yeah.” She said, unreadable. A beat went past, and Harry could feel the shift, how that was the wrong thing. He could hear her breathing. “Do you want– if you want, we could take a break-“

“No” Harry said, so fast, “No, no I don’t want that. Do you want that?”

“No. No. I just– I don’t want this to be difficult. I don’t want you to feel, like– obligated. If you want like room away from everything I get it. Just tell me– I don’t want– Just tell me.”

Harry’s heart was going into his chest like an endlessly slamming door. How to explain it? You wouldn’t believe the space here, all this room, all this time I have. I didn’t think I’d get it. I want space but never from you.

“I’m not with you because I feel obligated. I’m– That isn’t how I feel. I don’t want space or a break or anything.”

Silence, endless, pouring down the phone. He could be sick. Then, Ginny’s voice: “Okay.”

“I’m coming back to England, Gin. I’m coming back, just, when I’m– when I’m done. I’m coming home. Soon.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure that this– that this is still good.”

“It is.” He was so stupid. A war ends and everything finally works out, everyone safe for real, and he goes running to the other side of the world and doesn’t say when he’s coming home. Ginny, at home, getting a phone wired up just to call him. He had no luck for seventeen years and then it all came at once, and now he doesn’t know what to do with it.

“I love you,” he said, which he never said because it felt heavy, full of gravity, and he spent all his time trying to make her laugh.

Deep breath. He could hear her shoulders unknotting through the phone. “I love you too.”

“Harry?”

“Ron?”

“Can you hear me? Is this?– how do I know if this is on?”

“It’s on,” Harry said, hurriedly, “Is everything alright?”

“I tried to give Pig a letter for you this morning and he bit me and flew into the window.” Harry started laughing, “So I thought I’d try give him a break.”

Harry pulled himself together, “Yeah maybe that’s for the best. How are you?”

“Oh, the usual. The shop is still nuts so Hermione stopped by to help out on Saturday and ate half a Bile Biscuit thinking it was shortbread– hilarious. George threatened to charge her. If Ginny’s not at a practise she’s at our place drinking all the milk, and Luna came by the other day and threw all the stuff in the fridge out because she said it was infected with ‘Mimilice’. You?”

“The same. Teddy turned his leg into the end of a snake the other day and I had a fit. Andromeda put him in the sink so he couldn’t slither away before phasing back. It’s currently 39 degrees.” Ron laughed.

“God, even your voice sounds hot.”

“Woah, mate. I’m seeing someone and so are you.”

“Ha ha.” Ron said sarcastically, “I wish I could turn this up so everyone in the empty living room could have heard that.”

“Please don’t try to use the speaker phone, you’ll accidentally dial the embassy or something.”

“’Speaker phone’? What could the phone have to say?”

Teddy turned two and Andromeda make him a cake by hand with a spider on it that moved. He blew out the candles and looked bemused, sat in a top Hermione had sent, still holding onto a scrap of ribbon. Harry took him outside and sat him on his Nimbus Seven Series, entirely too long, and Teddy did slow circles while Harry held the end, watching him laugh, tiny hands grasping the handle. Suddenly, like being thrown through a window, Remus was in front of him, standing in the Hogwarts Hallway, breathless and happy, saying his sons name.

The post office has been closing for a good fifteen minutes, but Harry brought the cloak, pretended to leave, then snuck back and picked up the phone again.

“I think I just saw Millie’s husband.”

“You’re kidding.”

“A guy came to pick her up, he had a hat on, she got in the front seat–“

“What kind of hat?”

“I don’t know, normal. Like a normal old-person hat.”

“You didn’t say he was old.”

Harry grinned, “You really thought Millie seemed the type to be with a 25-year-old?”

“Hey, you’re going out with me after all–“

Harry spluttered, “I’m a year older!”

“Year and a half–“

“You’re unbelievable. That is not the same.”

“Just because you like younger women–“

“I don’t like younger women, I like you, or I did until a few minutes ago. I’m now reconsidering.”

“You like me.” Ginny said, not really serious but also deadly so.

Harry smiled, said dryly, “What gave me away?”

Harry had started dreaming of home, the staring in the street, dishes washing themselves in the Burrow, Hogwarts lake dark and silky as eels. He couldn’t tell what had brought this on, only that he was now driving into town every day to talk to Ginny, and now Ron, Hermione, even Neville were coming to the phone.

“They miss you” Andromeda said, unprompted, drinking muggle wine on the deck one night after dinner, “Molly wrote last week asking if you mentioned when you’d be coming back.”

“Oh,” Harry said, because he couldn’t think of anything else. “Do you think you’ll come back?”

The question hung between them. Terrible thought: Teddy never back in England, Teddy growing up where Harry couldn’t see him.

“I will.” She looked back at him, unbearably, and it was everything that went unsaid.

“How?” Harry asked, unthinking.

Andromeda looked back out the window, the pressing dark, the unbearable heat. Even after all this time, making dinner, sitting on the dark deck, weeding the garden, she was still unreadable. Grief undid you in layers.

“Because Nymphadora would want me to.” She said, simply. “Because I want her to think I’m brave.”

The post office shuts for a week because Millie goes out of town, and the place is small enough that that means it’s not open till she gets back. Harry makes it four days before apparating hundreds of miles away, almost splinching himself in the heat, dizzy from lack of practise, and stumbling to a payphone at the side of a highway.

Click. “Didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“Yeah, I went out of town to call.”

“Out of town huh? Miss me that much?” Ginny’s voice, joking.

Unbelievably, Harry thought. “Yeah well, Teddy isn’t much of a conversationalist.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that, you’ll knock his confidence.”

“He’ll get past it. How are you?”

“Fine. Well– actually, you won’t believe what happened at practise on Thursday, I hope you’re sitting down–“

“I’m not–” Harry grinned

“Squat then,” Ginny said blithely, “because Jacqueline has actually gone full bonkers–“

“My parents say its incredible “ Hermione’s voice, the only person in his life who spoke in a normal tone on the phone

“Yeah, we’ve been actually.” Harry didn’t have the heart to tell her that Teddy had found the Great Ocean Road blindingly boring and had only made it an hour in before him and Andromeda had decided it wasn’t worth the screaming anymore.

“Yeah, Mum and Dad were thinking of coming down, doing it again.”

Harry played along, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She was endearingly fake-casual, “Maybe Ron and I would come too.”

“Ron wants to drive 150 miles along a stretch of boring road with your parents?”

“You didn’t say it was boring.”

“Slip of the tongue,” Harry smiled, “What about the Ministry? And the shop?”

“We’re thinking about doing travelling.”

“The year we spent in a tent in various country-sides not enough?”

“Funnily enough seeing the sights wasn’t top of mind then.”

Harry smiled darkly, “If we’re going travelling let’s do Italy, or America, or something. Soon. Somewhere none of us have ever been.”

Hermione left it a beat too long for it to be a normal silence, “I heard Italy is beautiful, the history there is incredible…”

Harry could almost hear talking to Ron later: “and then he said if we’re going travelling, ‘we’re’, Ron! And ‘soon’! he thinks he’ll be travelling with us ‘soon’!. And Ron, “so you didn’t ask when he’s coming back then?, and then Hermione: “didn’t you hear? soon! He said soon!”

He was walking back to the car from the post office one day, Teddy plodding beside him infatuated with a passing goose, with Ginny’s voice still swimming around him, the sound of Ron telling her to shut up, pass the receiver, I’ve got to tell him the Cannons score, and he walked into the travel agents and booked one-way ticket to England for next week. Just like that.

Stupid, really, how he heard their voices all the time (walking in the street, making a sandwich, fixing the plumbing) but had never made the connection. He was in the street like always, hearing the call all again, and thought I wish they were here for real, and then walked into the air-conditioning and pulled out his chequebook. It really was that easy. The goose was still outside when he left holding his ticket, Teddy squirming to get closer to it with a full-on beak that Harry was trying to hide with one hand.

Home soon Harry thought the whole drive home, the thought expanding in his chest, the window open, his hair blowing everywhere– longer than it had ever been. Even when he got back to the farm, told Andromeda (who promised to follow in a year), made dinner, went to bed, he imagined he would feel different. Something huge and unfelt before, but really everything was the the same as ever. He just missed them, is all. He was learning that sometimes love really was that simple, that it was reason enough.

“I read that people sometimes make signs at airports.”

Harry smiled, phone cord wrapped around his palm. “Saying what?”

“Guess you’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Oh, God.”

“Don’t worry, no magic involved. We don’t want to alarm the muggles. Luna asked if she could bring her lion hat but Hermione got intervened.”

“Luna’s coming?”

“Yes, duh. Everyone is. It’s been a year a half.”

Harry, who had had visions of kissing Ginny ridiculously for an hour in front of the plane, adjusted his expectations.

Ginny, as usual, reading his mind: “Don’t worry. I’ve briefed Ron that I’ll still be kissing you senseless so he had better start getting over it.”

Harry grinned, “Bet he loved that.”

“He called me a cocksucker, and then I pointed out that actually I hadn’t been in a year and a half–“

“Gin!”

“–and he said my name exactly like that, yeah.”

Harry couldn’t stop laughing, bright red in the post office for the last time as Millie shushed him, “You are unbelievable.”

“Well, believe me.” she said, dryly, “I’ll be seeing you in 29 hours.”

Harry, also counting, ducked his head, grinning. It turned out all his best luck was waiting at this part of his life, who knew. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God.

“I’m going to be totally unusable, you know. The flight’s twenty-one hours.”

“Yeah, you’re an idiot. I know you’re on a whole no-magic kick but this really is the limit. What are you going to eat?”

“Hermione says they serve eggs and stuff.”

“Wow, really? How?”

Harry considered. “I actually have no idea. Maybe please bring some chips or something to the airport.”

Ginny laughed, the best sound in the world, “Only if you bring me some eggs.”

#sorry this is late sorry to all my unanswered messages i had to post this today i had to get it away from me!!!#hinny #hinny fic #harry potter #ginny weasley #otp: several sunlit days #i have to run everyone is waiting on me sorry everyone i love you all lots i turn 21 in three days who could believe it!!!#carolineswritingtag

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pamgkrthwrites · 4 years

Text

Flame of Healing | EraserMic x Reader | Chapter 5 - Back Off

Masterlist | AO3

Warnings: Angst, crying, reveal, shouting, soulmate au

Word Count: 2064

Taglist: @stargazingaloneatnight

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. The image below is of one of the character mentioned in today’s chapter. Be warned, Shouta yells at reader in this chapter.

Cover by @pamgkrthart

The week had passed slowly. Tuesday, Shouta came in to get paperwork from you so his agency could report it correctly, Wednesday came and many people were celebrating Hizashi’s birthday and on Thursday, Ms Joke saw you in the morning and was teasing you about your chose to avoid your Soulmates.

But today,

Today was Friday.

Which meant the Anti-Soulmate group meetings.

The group was named Heart’s Desire for Wronged Souls. Its leader was a man who divorced his soulmate who he was three kids with for an older woman who rejected her soulmate. The group is a mix of many things, counselling for soulless, counselling for rejecting soulmates, parties, get to gathers, and the main event, dating centre for “wanting souls”.

They started to label people who rejected their soulmates as “rejects”, and started to be rejected by people around them.

You were more than glad Ms Joke didn’t go around confessing what she found out about you, and that all she did was simple teasing.

But you were happy the day was done and sighed in relief as you closed your apartment door, dropping your bags to the floor. You crash onto your couch and let out all the stress in your back with your quirk.

“Time for some stress release.” You sighed as you got yourself ready for that afternoon of fun activities.

---

Shouta and Hizashi eyed the building from one across the road, watching and counting everyone who entered. Shouta tried to make himself fancy looking and Hizahi tried his best to not look like himself.

“I like it when your hair is tied back, Shou.” Hizashi flirt as he watched his partner.

“Get back to work, ‘Zashi.” Shouta shushed him as he continued to watch the people down below.

Hizashi puffed as he leaned onto the wall and watched. “Why did we get assigned to do this mission? Don’t they know I am the last hero who would want to do it.”

“Which is probably why they chose you. You had your 21st the other day so the doubt that I’m not your soulmate might be there. It could also be you don’t like me and have doubts about the relationship but as a Pro Hero you have to keep up the idea you are happy with me-”

“Shou stop please you’re concerning me.”

“What if that’s why we haven’t met her yet, Hizashi?” Shouta turned to Hozashi. “She must have seen you at the very least name us as soulmates and figured it out, yet she hasn’t come looking? What could possibly be the reason-”

“Shouta shut up.”

“Hizashi I-”

“No look!” Hizashi grabbed Shouta’s face and made him turn to look at a girl walking towards the building.

“What on earth is she doing here?” Shouta asked he stared down at the girl walking into the building.

“Why is M/N L/N here?”

---

“Chase Saito!” You greeted the young man.

Chase Saito was the son of the founding member. Even tho he was 24 he already had built a massage medical Company that sold to Japan, China, Korea and Australia.

Chase and you had on and off flirty relationship. He seemed to always start them and you would end them if he got too creepy. He was respectful when he crossed the line and would back off until you were okay with him again.

You two may not have clicked all the time but the small relationship you two had would work out with effect.

“L/N!” He smiled as he walked over to you in a fancy suit. “I saw you on the news healing that hero! I didn’t know your quirk could do that.”

His voice was like honey to the ears, sweet and smooth that attracted bees and butterflies, yet also wasps and flies.

The reason for that effect on people was his Quirk, Ease. He can ease people around him, making them calm. He was easy to be around, and only after you walked away did you realise how sticky and annoying he can be, just like honey.

Annoying people aren’t bad to be around, they just had moments, moment about them they didn’t know about or couldn’t change about themselves. Sometimes they were too much and you can stay away and they are usually respectful about it, sadly because it has happened to them so much.

Chase may have been annoying sometimes, but he was a good person, and he goes towards those people as well. He always called people by their last name in public, that’s what he had to do as a public figure. He didn’t mind people calling him by his first name. He spent half his life in England so he used to it.

“If I had known you had a healing quirk I would have used my quirk to convince you to join me!” He smiled brightly as he made his way over to you and a respectful distance away.

“Ha, yeah. I don’t like advertising my quirk.” You blushed in embarrassment. “People used me during my childhood for having a regeneration quirk.”

He looked shocked at your response. You didn’t really talk about your childhood to him or anyone there.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that.” He said with full honesty. “Your quirk is designed to be used by others but that doesn’t mean people have the right to use you as an object.”

You felt small at that moment.

You don’t know what you feel.

Happiness or grief.

Oboro said something similar when he first started to get to know you too.

This wasn’t Oboro in front of you though, this was someone else.

Someone who even fully understood staying away from one’s soulmate.

His short honey-orange hair shaping his face defining his features. You look Chase deeply into his dark green eyes. They reminded you of Hizashi-

Your blood turns cold once that names crosses you.

Even In a place like this, you can’t avoid the bitter truth.

Chase noticed the changes in your face and wore a worried face.

“Hey, are you-?”

Hands grip you by both shoulders and pull you away from Chase.

“Are you harassing her, reject?!”

Everyone goes dead silent and you feel anger rise within you.

“What the fuck you say?” You snap your head to the tall man.

To say you were shocked to see Shouta glaring down at Chase would be an understatement.

Where his hands where on you burnt your skin. You wanted to fall into his body and wrap your arms around him. Looking up at him trying to protect you gave you butterflies and pushed a blush onto your checks.

So forcefully pushing him off of you with harshness not just hurt him, but hurt you, and the way he looked down at you with shock also hurt.

“Chase isn’t harassing me, Asshole!” You yelled at him. “You’re just being a dickhead who wants to shame us for not choosing our soulmates!”

The shock and hurt on his face hurt you. It hurt knowing you were hurting him.

Why was he wearing a fancy suit.

You felt your eyes burn as you held your ground, seeing him hurt.

You wanted to cry.

You needed to leave.

You rushed passed Shouta and headed towards the exit fast.

“M/N! Please wait!” Shouta spoke and went to move to go after you.

“M/N?” Chase said softly. “But her name is Y/N…”

Chase may have spoken softly, but Shouta still heard him and froze.

Shouta snapped his head around. “What did you just say?!”

Chase was too scared to respond to from the harsh tone, but Shouta didn’t really need him to respond. His reaction was enough.

Shouta moved back around to chase after you.

M/N L/N was Y/N L/N this entire time, she was just hiding from them.

---

This was supposed to be your off day, your relaxed day.

Not your hot soulmate insulting your friends-

What did you just say?

You puffed as you walked down the street to the train station, only to hear running footsteps coming for you.

You quickly grabbed pepper spray from within one of your pockets only to hear Shouta.

“You lied to our faces!”

You stopped and turned around.

“What are you talking about?” You asked as you made it clear you were putting away your weapon.

“You knew who we were, didn’t you?!” He huffed and puffed. “Oboro told you and pushed you yet you still gave us a fake name! You even hid our names on your wrists, don’t you!”

You were shocked that he figured it out. Chase must have corrected him on your name and it clicked in for Shouta.

You stared at the angry hurt Shouta, tears threatening to leave his eyes.

You did this to him.

“I’m right, aren’t I?!” He yelled at you as he walked close to where you stood. “What is so wrong with us you had to hide from us? Why don’t you love us?!”

“Love you?!” You glared at him as tears threaten to leave your own eyes. “I do love you! I love both you! I watch everything you two do! Sometimes I regret hiding I’m not going to lie, but you two were happy and have been happy without me this entire-”

“YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT!” He yelled in your face as tears ran down your face. “We ask ourselves all the time why we haven’t found you! We are a public figure and Hizashi is very public about having two soulmates so we knew you were hiding, but we didn’t know it was for this long! All we ever do is wonder what type of person you are! What your life was like! But no, you found out through Oboro and fucking hide from us since!”

You two both glared at each other. Your names were burning at the skin. Your high emotions were hurting both of you and your soulmate marks.

You were both crying at this point as you glared at each other. Were faces were so close yet all you could both feel were each other’s names on your wrists.

Shouta held your face in his large hands and rested his forehead onto yours. You both sobbed.

“Please… Just give us a chance…” He asked in a soft voice filled with sobs.

You cried into his hands as you pulled up your arms to wrap around him. He pushed your head into the crook of his neck and rubbed your back as you sobbed onto his shoulders.

You never felt so warm in your life.

“The last time I saw you cry your hair turned into fire.” Shouta admitted.

You remember that day, the day he told you Oboro died. You sniffed and rubbed your eyes onto his fancy jacked.

“I’m sorry.”

“Your just as emotional as Hizashi.”

You two stood there for a couple of minutes before you heard footsteps approaching.

You felt Shouta tense up and you gripped his tighter as you hid your face.

“Shou, where are you-?” You heard Hizashi’s voice and you tensed up.

You could feel Shouta’s arm move as he silently talks to your third half. Even if you are trying to not pay attention you hear a small gasp from Hizashi at one point and Shouta’s arm made a motion with his arm that got Hizashi to stop.

Silence falls and Shouta breaks apart from you.

“We are going to drop you home, but we will be having a discussion in the morning.” He says with a stern voice.

You hesitantly nod your head. Shouta puts his hand on your back and leads you to their car.

Hizashi and Shouta continue to have a silent conversation with you right there only for it to end once you enter into their black car.

“Address.” Shouta says with a stern voice, you answering softly.

The car ride to your apartment was awkward, but you couldn’t stop the butterflies in your stomach from the hug earlier.

Shouta leaves Hizashi in the car as he walks you up to your door and leans on the door frame once you enter.

“I will tell Hizashi what happened and in the morning we will be discussing how we will proceed.” He says as he looks down at you. “Don’t run off, Y/N.”

#shouta aizawa #eraserhead #hizashi yamada #present mic #shouta aizawa x reader #aizawa x reader #eraserhead x reader #hizashi yamada x reader #present mic x reader #erasermic x reader #reader is female #fem!reader #polyamorous #poly relasionship #soulmate au

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cripplerage · 3 years

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I need to go on a rant about my real estate so... cw for real estate, brief mention of c*m, homelessness and abuse, cockroaches, and capitalism.

I live in Queensland, Australia. I'm 19. I graduated highschool 2019, right before Covid. I tried to move out but failed because of covid and stayed living at my foster carer's. In around August, I had to leave suddenly due to the abuse in the home worsening. I was then couch surfing and ended up staying at my partner's parent's overcrowded house with him. Let's call my partner C. Not an ideal situation, but not on the streets either.

We couldn't stay for long, though, because they were moving and they couldn't take C or me with them. There were 2 problems with this:

1. It turns out that it's nearly impossible to get a rental without a renting history, which we obviously didn't have.

2. Our area began to face a very serious housing crisis.

We got more and more desperate, applying anywhere we could afford and reaching out to any and all organisations that might be able to help. In the end, we had one week left when we found out that one of C's siblings had once private rented a room from a guy, and the room was currently empty. Thank god. Again, narrowly avoiding living on the streets.

So, we now lived with someone I'll call A. And... it sucked. The room had a bunch of mold on the walls, A barely cleared any space for us in the kitchen, he would shave his whole head over the sink and never clean up the hairs (in the end, C did it.) He even would regularly leave his c*m unflushed in the toilet. Not to mention he said the rent would be one price before we moved in and then increased it after we moved in. And he tried to get us to lie to Centrelink that we were paying rent so that he wouldn't lose his benefit. AND he's a transphobic gamer man who screams slurs at people on Dota at all hours of the day/night.

But we had to stay, or we'd be homeless. Bit then it comes time to sign the lease, and the rent is increasing. A couldn't afford rent on his own. We don't want to stay that long obviously, so we're forced to move out so he can get someone who'll sign the lease with him.

Side note: when we moved put, he tried to get us to scrub the walls for him because he said it was our responsibility, even though it was the same as when we moved in. I was so mad at this point but also scared because he's a big man, so I planned on us leaving and saying we'd come back but then not. But after my foster carer secretly spoke with him, he mysteriously changed his mind... I guess she's not all bad!

Anyway, again, we're frantically searching for housing, though we had never stopped looking because we hated living with A. Again, nearly homeless. At this point, so many people were homeless that many of them had set up tents on the local showgrounds. Then, an organisation finally came through for us. All we had to do was sign a lease - it's a unit, we were saved!

This brings us to 3 weeks ago. The unit kinda sucks but we have no choice, so we sign. Luckily there isn't an end date, we just have to give notice when we leave. The unit is furnished - it's mandatory. It sounds like a good thing, but it means we're presumably paying extra rent for really crappy furniture and it has to stay. And when it needs fixing, we have to wait for the real estate to fix it.

So we discover, after moving all our cold food into the old shitty fridge with D-rock etched into it with a knife, that the fridge emits hot air instead of cold. It spoiled all our food. So we then have to rely on 2 minute noodles and takeout for over a week until the fridge is fixed. It turns out the issue was that the door jams just slightly open, so that even the light has turned off but it's not closed. We learn how to close it properly, and life goes on. Except the fridge is now only slightly cooler than room temp, and the freezer part is about as cold as the fridge should be. The doors had been closed properly, and the settings had actually been set on the coldest option - more than most fridges need and using more power.

So then we had to ask for another technician. They booked a time, but never showed up. It was too late in the day to call them before we realised they weren't just late. It's now been 3 weeks since we moved in and we still don't have a working fridge - we have to keep our milk in the freezer.

For context - we need a freezer. I have undiagnosed chronic pain. We don't know what it's from yet, but we do know that ice packs are the only thing that significantly helps. So you can imagine the fury I felt in bed one morning, in excruciating pain. I was unable to move; sobbing and nauseous, knowing that something as simple as an ice pack could make a world of difference... and not having any that were frozen because the freezer is broken.

On top of that, the washing machine didn't work, the toilet paper roll doesn't work properly, the blinds are very broken, the hanger rod in our cupboard is detached from the wall on one side, we have a cockroach infection that has been here since we arrived, and we have very loud possoms in the roof and even louder neighbours. All except the neighbours have been reported, only the washing machine has been fixed.

Which would be mostly ok in this timeframe. Except we've just been told that we have a house inspection in 2 weeks? The notice came less than a month after we signed the lease; the standard is 3 months. How are we supposed to be fully unpacked and tidy when we don't have a working fridge/freezer and I sometimes can't walk from the pain because of it?

I am just so mad and upset and I feel so helpless. I feel doomed to be in unstable housing forever. How can I focus on getting better when I literally found a giant cockroach on my pillow tonight???

By the way, we pay $210 a week for this shothole. And it's VERY small.

So anyway, this was part 1 of my war on capitalism and the government. And I didn't even MENTION the homelessness experiences I had as a kid. Let me know if you want to hear the injustices I've experienced in the health system, in the legal system, in the education system, or in the foster system next. Yes, I could write an essay on each of these... and I probably will.

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bexterbex · 4 years

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A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 14

Warning, if it hasn’t been obvious in the movies there is Nazi symbolism within the First Order. I will expand on this much more throughout the story. If this is something that bothers you, please just exit the story. The author does not condone any Nazi ideals, this is just for fictional uses only.

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

Masterlist

Just a reiteration, none of the government officials are based off a specific real person. They are all old privileged men. I do not want to date this fic in that way. I am trying to base their political standings off of the majority of their country's beliefs. They are not progressive, but they are harshly conservative.

Also, I may be later in posting the next few days or may not be able to post, my Tumblr @bexterbex will have a post on whether or not I can post that day. My sister is getting ready to have baby #3 and I am with her assisting with her other 2 and cleaning house. Sorry for any future inconvenience.

Chapter 14: Dirty Politics

Entering the war room once again, everyone shifted uncomfortably as you two entered. Kylo’s demeanor shifted into one of strength and power, with underlying tones of anger. You took your seats once more ready to begin. Kylo now held your hand above the table as a silent way to dare anyone in the room to disrespect you.

“Shall we begin,” asked Hux.

Kylo nodded in response.

“The Finalizer will arrive late tonight, early tomorrow morning to help with the demands of registration and the health regime. Currently, we need to help evaluate an addition to the education system to increase overall hygiene here on the surface,” said Hux.

With this Prime Minister of Australia scoffed, “our people are not unclean, I think the First Order is overstepping its bounds with telling people how to clean themselves.”

“Currently over 700 million people are living in extreme poverty. 8.9 percent of your population are defecating in non-hygienic places, unvaccinated children are on the rise in your first world countries, are just but a few issues the Earth has with health,” said a male first order officer. “Does this not concern you that almost one-seventh of the world's population is without almost any health care? That disease may spread overnight?”

“Sub Saharan Africa and the poor areas of Asia are not my concern,” said the Australian Prime Minister.

“Were you not asked to help represent all of the governments of your world,” asked General Hux, daring the prime minister to defy him.

“Yes, the prime minister did agree to that,” said the Chancellor of Germany.

“The U.S. government’s own Center for Disease Control reported that 35 percent of women and 69 percent of men do not wash their hands after using the restroom. A basic hygiene principle that is shared across the galaxy. Obviously, Earth does need education on hygiene as it would help stop any of these outbreaks that you have been known to have,” said another female officer.

The Prime Minister of Russia scoffed, “we are not unclean.”

“I don’t believe they were suggesting you were unclean, but that the majority of Earth was unclean,” you replied.

“There is also the discussion of reproductive health, all First Order planets have adequate birth control and access to feminine hygiene products. Which we can see from the data, your planet seems to be lacking in all these areas and will need to be justified,” said the female officer.

“Birth control and feminine hygiene product? Now this is ridiculous,” said the U.S. President. “There will be no need for the First Order being involved in that. Besides periods are not an important medical issue.”

This made you a bit angry, but fortunately enough for the President, it was General Hux who spoke first, “The First Order merely wants those who would like these products to be able to receive them.”

“Yes, and I suppose you want our women to become common First Order whores with this access to birth control,” asked the almost now enraged Russian Prime Minister. Staring directly at you.

This conversation made your blood boil. He was now insinuating exactly what he was thinking earlier about you. Kylo’s grip on your hand tightened. You could hear him snort through the vocoder, “Certainly your wife will be of no use to us, but a healthy self-controlled population is necessary. After all, I believe it is also common here on Earth that you are born from women, and I believe you have not advanced enough for the use of clones.”

With this statement, the Russian Prime Minister stood up enraged. “What you do with your ha-“ he wasn’t able to complete his sentence before he was grabbing at an invisible hand around his neck, choking the air out of him. All eyes on him.

General Hux next to you turned to Kylo pleaded, “Supreme Leader, I might suggest that you release him. It would not look good to the Russian people if you killed their prime minister and they are not a country we can afford not to be cooperative.”

You turned to Kylo, desperate to find his eyes through his mask as he turns to you. “Release him.” In an instant, the prime minister dropped to the floor gasping for air. The U.S. President and Australian Prime Minister helping him back into his seat. All of the government officials in the room looked terrified.

You had no idea what just happened. You didn’t really know how Kylo did what he did, but that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that he did it in the first place. Before you could speak, Kylo addressed the room.

“You and your people will follow the will of the First Order, my will as Supreme Leader. I will leave health decisions to a committee that I have designated. They will bring forward their proposals and I will either approve or disapprove them from there. This discussion and meeting are over. See to it during tomorrow's meetings that you all control yourselves or there will be consequences for your people,” and with that, he stood and he leads you to stand as well. He guided you out the door without another word. You did not stop at the red sitting room again, instead, he lead you out of the White House and into his command shuttle.

You sat down and before you could even start to buckle yourself he was doing it for you. You could feel the silent pent up anger radiating off of him. He barked a harsh order to the pilot to take you back to the Steadfast.

The ride up was in total silence, but he took you hand in his once more. Once you docked, he was quick to unbuckle you both. Quickly guiding you both through the hangar and the halls, not stopping for the official salute. You quickly found him leading you not to his chambers but to the room that he had shown you. The door quickly opened and you two rushed in. Before the door could completely shut, his helmet was off and tossed to the side making a loud thud against the durasteel.

Kylo’s back was against the star side windows—sitting. His face in one hand and the other holding itself out to you. His breathing was labored again, you feared what was behind his eyes.

You took his hand and he pulled you down into him. His face buried in your neck, his arms wrapped tightly around you—he was holding back a sob. Your hand found its way into his hair as the other to his lower back. You began to rub circles trying to calm him.

“Kylo,” you said softly.

He was looking at you now, “I am a monster, don’t you see? You shouldn’t stay with me, or you will get hurt too.”

“What was it that you said before? The Force brought me to you, why would I leave if it chose me for you?” This time you tucked yourself into his chest, refusing to move.

After a few minutes, his breathing calmed and he wound a gloved hand in your hair, holding you to him. “I’m sorry.”

You tilted you head up to meet his eyes. “Whoever hurt you before doesn’t matter. I am here let me help you. Whether it’s to keep your temper in check, helping with work, or anything else that is why I am here.” You place a hand over his heart and one of his joins yours.

“I had to protect you. I have to protect you, do you understand? Without you, I will self destruct. Taking everyone with me,” said Kylo while placing a hand under your chin. His thumb ghosting over your cheek.

“I know, but thoughts can’t harm me, only actions can. Defend me against actions. I like that you are trying to be a knight in shining armor but I am also a big girl who can handle herself. Especially against gross old men. When their thoughts turn into actions, then you can swoop in and save me.” You tucked yourself back into his chest, you both just sat there while time seemed to stop.

“I need you by my side helping me with Earth. The politicians are stubborn and archaic. It's a large planet with a big population. The biggest the First Order has conquered yet, but your people are unhealthy and uneducated,” said Kylo finally.

“Why don’t we go and try to figure out some of this together. I know you said you were going to appoint a committee, why don’t we try to do that now. Get it out of the way, and relieve some stress,” you suggested.

Kylo simply nodded. You stood up, and so did he. He pulled you back to his chest once more and buried his face in your hair. You stood like that for several moments before he separated from you. He retrieved his helmet and once again you were off into the winding halls of the Steadfast.

You reach a room you have never been to, once inside it was a large empty conference room. Kylo walked over to one of the computer panels on the wall and started typing in commands.

“We will wait for the generals and officers to come back, in the meantime you and I will eat lunch.”

A droid appeared with plates of food and you and Kylo ate lunch in the conference room. One finished the droid took everything back.

A junior officer entered the room and informed you that the generals and officers would be here shortly as their shuttle had just arrived. Moments later they filed through the door, quickly taking seats and seemingly ready for a bomb to go off.

“We are going to discuss the health regime committee first and then I believe we should discuss other areas of education. The earth is a mess with citizen on citizen violence that will be stopped,” said Kylo.

“Well, the hygiene committee will be something easy to tackle. Mostly it should be filled with First Order medical staff, someone from the CDC and the WHO. Unlike the politicians I believe that average citizens and the Earth’s medical professionals will agree with a better health campaign,” you said.

“When the Finalizer docks tonight I can ask their chief medical officer to put together a group of nurses and doctors from both ships to start the committee,” said General Hux.

“Inform them that a visual campaign will help, videos and posters. Literally everywhere. Children will be the easiest to influence, adults will be harder,” you said.

The officers were noting your comments. “This CDC and WHO are reputable,” asked General Pryde.

“Yes, unfortunately, most of the time people only listen to them when there is an Ecoli outbreak in lettuce and not when it comes to washing hands and receiving vaccines. But I digress at the ignorance that is my own people,” you replied.

“So they will understand the need that we have for making this planet healthy? That the citizens must be healthy,” asked another officer.

“Yes, as far as I am aware, doctors on my planet take oaths to health and the safety of patients and potential patients. They also will believe in the science behind it, when given facts and studies. I have yet to meet a doctor that doesn’t want their patients to bathe regularly, to receive vaccinations, to have regular checkups. That is something doctors want,” you said.

“General Hux will inform the chief medical officer of the Finalizer of what is to happen. Tomorrow the committee will be formed before 10:00 hours and will by the end of the day have a start to a more solid campaign,” said Kylo.

He then turned to you and asked, “Will you help with the health committee?”

“Yes,” you respond.

“Supreme Leader, we must also be aware that there must be an education started once all registration is completed. As of now we have currently completed the registration of 27% of the population has been registered to date and 98% of the registered have started their education process,” said general Hux.

“Yes, behavioral education along with the standard education must be important. We should hold off for two or three days to see where the health education committee is, that can always be put as a main focus to then share a behavioral one,” said Kylo.

The mention of behavioral training piqued your interest. What need was there for behavior training? And what would it involve? Public health was something you were comfortable sharing but if Kylo could read minds what would happen in this behavioral training. You silently hoped you would be able to shape or sway this. If you learned anything from movies, an overpowered government did not allow freedom, and freedom of thought was the most important thing you could think of.

“But I would like General Pryde to investigate what already might be available for behavioral training education at the main library in the U.S.-“ Kylo turned to you to help answer.

“The Library of Congress,” you supplied.

“Yes, the Library of Congress. There should be something there worth our time.” With that Kylo dismissed the officers before you were left alone General Hux approached you.

“Here is your dog tags my lady. They will grant you access all over any First Order ship and if you happen to be separated from the Supreme Leader it will grant him the ability to find you,” and with that he handed you a set of angular looking dog tags that had a visible tracker chip and circuitry on the back. He soon left. You were now alone again with Kylo.

#kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren imagine #kylo x reader #kylo x you #star wars #first order #star wars imagine #Star wars soulmate au #sw first order imagine #sw #sw sequels #armitage hux #enric pride

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newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

First Arctic Navigation in February (Bloomberg) A tanker sailed through Arctic sea ice in February for the first time, the latest sign of how quickly the pace of climate change is accelerating in the Earth’s northernmost regions. The Christophe de Margerie was accompanied by the nuclear-powered 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker as it sailed back to Russia this month after carrying liquified natural gas to China through the Northern Sea Route in January. Both trips broke navigation records. The experimental voyage happened after a year of extraordinarily warm conditions in the Arctic that have sent shockwaves across the world, from the snowstorm that blanketed Spain in January to the blast of cold air that swept through Canada in mid-February, moving deep into the South as far as Texas. The Arctic is warming more than twice as quickly as the rest of the world and the area covered by ice there has reached historic lows multiple times over the past 12 months. The melting in the region is already in line with the worst-case climate scenarios outlined by scientists.

Biden mourns 500,000 dead, balancing nation’s grief and hope (AP) With sunset remarks and a national moment of silence, President Joe Biden on Monday confronted head-on the country’s once-unimaginable loss—half a million Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic—as he tried to strike a balance between mourning and hope. “We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. There’s no such thing,” he said Monday evening. “There’s nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary.” The president, who lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car collision and later an adult son to brain cancer, leavened the grief with a message of hope. “This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again. This nation will know joy again. And as we do, we’ll remember each person we’ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind.” He said, “We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur or, on the news. We must do so to honor the dead. But, equally important, to care for the living.”

Texans Needed Food and Comfort After a Brutal Storm. As Usual, They Found It at H-E-B. (NYT) The past week had been a nightmare. A winter storm, one of the worst to hit Texas in a generation, robbed Lanita Generous of power, heat and water in her home. The food she had stored in her refrigerator and freezer had spoiled. She was down to her final five bottles of water. But on Sunday, as the sun shined and ice thawed in Austin, Ms. Generous did the same thing as many Texans in urgent need of food, water and a sense of normalcy: She went to H-E-B. “They’ve been great,” she said, adding with just a touch of hyperbole: “If it hadn’t been for the bread and peanut butter, I would have died in my apartment.” H-E-B is a grocery store chain. But it is also more than that. People buy T-shirts that say “H-E-B for President,” and they post videos to TikTok declaring their love, like the woman clutching a small bouquet of flowers handed to her by an employee: “I wish I had a boyfriend like H-E-B. Always there. Gives me flowers. Feeds me.” For many Texans, H-E-B reflected the ways the state’s maverick spirit can flourish: reliable for routine visits but particularly in a time of disaster, and a belief that the family-owned chain—with a vast majority of its more than 340 locations inside state lines—has made a conscious choice to stay rooted to the idea of being a good neighbor. “It’s like H-E-B is the moral center of Texas,” said Stephen Harrigan, a novelist and journalist who lives in Austin. “There seems to be in our state a lack of real leadership, a lack of real efficiency, on the political level. But on the business level, when it comes to a grocery store, all of those things are in place.”

Hunger in Central America skyrockets, U.N. agency says (Reuters) The number of people going hungry in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua has nearly quadrupled in the last two years, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as Central America has been battered by an economic crisis. New data released by the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) showed nearly 8 million people across the four countries are experiencing hunger this year, up from 2.2 million in 2018. “The COVID-19-induced economic crisis had already put food on the market shelves out of reach for the most vulnerable people when the twin hurricanes Eta and Iota battered them further,” Miguel Barreto, WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a statement.

Prison riots in Ecuador leave 62 dead (AP) Sixty-two inmates have died in riots at prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt, authorities said Tuesday. Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said in a news conference that 800 police offices have been helping to regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of officers from tactical units had been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday. Moncayo said that two groups were trying to gain “criminal leadership within the detention centers” and that the clashes were precipitated by a search for weapons carried out Monday by police officers.

Mount Etna eruption lights up Sicily's night sky (BBC) Mount Etna is erupting again, and its hot lava fountains are illuminating the Sicilian sky. The eruption began earlier this week, and Etna has since been spewing massive orange plumes of smoke and thick clouds of ash. Etna is Europe's most active volcano, and it erupts relatively often. The last major eruption was in 1992. Its eruptions have rarely caused damage or injury in recent decades - and officials believe this eruption is no exception. Stefano Branco, the head of the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in the nearby city of Catania, told Italian news agency AGI earlier this week: "We've seen worse."

Cow science (Foreign Policy) A new national exam on cows developed by the Indian government-backed National Cow Commission has been shelved following controversy over its less-than-scientific contents. The curriculum for the test involved erroneous claims about the virtues of Indian cows that were widely ridiculed by the country’s scientific community. Among the “facts” on display: That Indian cows have a special “solar pulse” in their humps which can supposedly convert sun rays into vitamin D that is then passed on to milk, and an assertion that Indian cows are “strong” whereas foreign cows are “lazy.” The issue of cows, considered sacred by Hindus, and their treatment has become even more of a cultural wedge issue in India following the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, with sometimes deadly results. Attacks by vigilante “cow protection” groups killed 44 people between 2015 and 2018 according to Human Rights Watch, with Muslims among the majority of those targeted.

Japan creates Minister of Loneliness to fight COVID-19 suicides (New York Post) Japan just appointed a Minister of Loneliness—to try to combat its exploding suicide rate amid COVID-19. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga named Tetsushi Sakamoto, a cabinet member already trying to beef up the depressed country’s birthrate, to the post. Suga noted earlier this month that Japanese women, in particular, have been struggling with depression since the coronavirus pandemic began about a year ago—with nearly 880 female suicide victims in the country alone in October, a 70 percent increase over the year before, the BBC reported. Japanese suicide expert Michiko Ueda told the BBC that part of the problem involves an increasing number of single women in the country who don’t have stable employment. “A lot of women are not married anymore,” she said. “They have to support their own lives, and they don’t have permanent jobs.”

Facebook Strikes Deal to Restore News Sharing in Australia (NYT) Facebook said on Monday that it would restore the sharing and viewing of news links in Australia after gaining more time to negotiate over a proposed law that would require it to pay for news content that appears on its site. The social network had blocked news links in Australia last week as the new law neared passage. The legislation includes a code of conduct that would allow media companies to bargain individually or collectively with digital platforms over the value of their news content. Facebook had vigorously objected to the code, which would curb its power and drive up its spending for content, as well as setting a precedent for other governments to follow. The company had argued that news would not be worth the hassle in Australia if the bill became law. But on Monday, Facebook returned to the negotiating table after the Australian government granted a few minor concessions.

U.S.-Saudi ties (Foreign Policy) The families of the three U.S. service members killed and 13 others injured by Mohammed Alshamrani, a Saudi airman who went on a shooting spree at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 2019, are suing Saudi Arabia’s government, alleging that the kingdom failed to screen him appropriately before sending him to the United States for training. The families are filing the lawsuit against Saudi Arabia based on a 2016 law that allows U.S. citizens to sue foreign governments over terrorist attacks—legislation that was initially passed in order to allow the families of 9/11 victims to bring a civil suit against Saudi Arabia.

Italian Ambassador Among Three Killed in Attack on U.N. Convoy in Congo (NYT) For Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, humanitarian work was at the core of his mission. The 43-year-old had moved with his wife to the capital, Kinshasa, in 2017, where their family grew to include three young daughters. He rose to the rank of ambassador in 2019, the pinnacle of his diplomatic career. On Monday, Mr. Attanasio was among three people killed in an attack on a humanitarian convoy near the city of Goma, the World Food Program and Italy’s Foreign Ministry said, the latest in a wave of violence in that part of the central African nation. The deaths of Mr. Attanasio; an Italian Embassy official, named by the Foreign Ministry as Vittorio Iacovacci; and Mustapha Milambo, a driver for the World Food Program, have rattled the international diplomatic community and drawn condemnation from across the globe.

Flood damage and insurance (NPR) Right now, over 4 million houses and small apartments in the contiguous United States are at substantial risk of expensive flood damage, and the cost of flood damage to homes will increase by 50 percent over the next 30 years according to the First Street Foundation. As the climate changes, places that were perfectly safe to live in will no longer be as sure of bets as they once were, and the costs are about to be a serious reality check. The National Flood Insurance Program is $36 billion in debt because of underestimated risks. Over the next several years, FEMA plans to raise rates up to 18 percent a year until prices are accurate, starting this October.

#headlines #news

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 4 years

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13th August >> Mass Readings (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Thursday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saints Pontian, Pope, and Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs

Saint Fachtna, Bishop.

Thursday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green)

First Reading

Ezekiel 12:1-12

The oracle of exile against the whole House of Israel

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, you are living with that set of rebels who have eyes and never see, ears and never hear, for they are a set of rebels. You, son of man, pack an exile’s bundle and emigrate by daylight when they can see you, emigrate from where you are to somewhere else while they watch. Perhaps they will admit then that they are a set of rebels. You will pack your baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight, for them to see, and leave like an exile in the evening, making sure that they are looking. As they watch, make a hole in the wall, and go out through it. As they watch, you will shoulder your pack and go out into the dark; you will cover your face so that you cannot see the country, since I have made you a symbol for the House of Israel.’

I did as I had been told. I packed my baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight; and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with my hand. I went out into the dark and shouldered my pack as they watched.

The next morning the word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, did not the House of Israel, did not that set of rebels, ask you what you were doing? Say, “The Lord says this: This oracle is directed against Jerusalem and the whole House of Israel wherever they are living.” Say, “I am a symbol for you; the thing I have done will be done to them; they will go into exile, into banishment.” Their ruler will shoulder his pack in the dark and go out through the wall; a hole will be made to let him out; he will cover his face rather than see the country.’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 77(78):56-59,61-62

R/ Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

They put God to the proof and defied him;

they refused to obey the Most High.

They strayed, as faithless as their fathers,

like a bow on which the archer cannot count.

R/ Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

With their mountain shrines they angered him;

made him jealous with the idols they served.

God saw this and was filled with fury:

he utterly rejected Israel.

R/ Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

He gave his ark into captivity,

his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.

He gave up his people to the sword,

in his anger against his chosen ones.

R/ Never forget the deeds of the Lord.

Gospel Acclamation

Psalm 118:88

Alleluia, alleluia!

Because of your love give me life,

and I will do your will.

Alleluia!

Or:

Psalm 118:135

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let your face shine on your servant,

and teach me your decrees.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 18:21-19:1

'How often must I forgive my brother?'

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and he left Galilee and came into the part of Judaea which is on the far side of the Jordan.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Saints Pontian, Pope, and Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs

(Liturgical Colour: Red)

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Thursday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading

1 Peter 4:12-19

If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad

My dear people, you must not think it unaccountable that you should be tested by fire. There is nothing extraordinary in what has happened to you. If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one. The time has come for the judgement to begin at the household of God; and if what we know now is only the beginning, what will it be when it comes down to those who refuse to believe God’s Good News? If it is hard for a good man to be saved, what will happen to the wicked and to sinners? So even those whom God allows to suffer must trust themselves to the constancy of the creator and go on doing good.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 123(124):2-5,7-8

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

If the Lord had not been on our side

when men rose up against us,

then would they have swallowed us alive

when their anger was kindled.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Then would the waters have engulfed us,

the torrent gone over us;

over our head would have swept

the raging waters.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Indeed the snare has been broken

and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Te Deum

Alleluia, alleluia!

We praise you, O God,

we acknowledge you to be the Lord;

the noble army of martyrs praise you, O Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 15:18-21

The world hated me before it hated you

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If the world hates you,

remember that it hated me before you.

If you belonged to the world,

the world would love you as its own;

but because you do not belong to the world,

because my choice withdrew you from the world,

therefore the world hates you.

Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;

if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.

But it will be on my account that they will do all this,

because they do not know the one who sent me.’

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Saint Fachtna, Bishop

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Thursday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading

Exodus 32:7-14

Moses pleads with the Lord his God to spare Israel

The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostatised. They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. “Here is your God, Israel,” they have cried “who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘I can see how headstrong these people are! Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’

But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm outstretched and mighty hand? Why let the Egyptians say, “Ah, it was in treachery that he brought them out, to do them to death in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth”? Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I promised I will give to your descendants, and it shall be their heritage for ever.’

So the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 88(89):2-5,21-22,25,27